Wednesday - Saturday, July 31- August 3, 2013 (Camano Island, WA)

Wednesday

Today was another project day.  The project today was to start work painting on the kids house.  They have the front of the house all completed, with trim work etc. and it looks very nice from the street.  Now for the rest of the house.  We started on one of the sides, but had to do some prep work first.  I had gotten all the overgrown bushes trimmed back but there was an old antenna and wiring that Rich had to remove before we could start painting. 

We came up with a good system.  While Rich was working on removing the wiring, I had started in painting the grooves in the siding.  Rich then came along behind me with the paint roller and painted the rest of the siding.  We got one side of the house done.  It sure takes some time when painting a house by brush.  We had painted our house in Bend by brush and it takes time, but we feel it gives a much better coverage.

After our work day, we just had a nice relaxing evening in the 5er.

Thursday

Today we were headed back to Mt. Vernon/Burlington area which is about 31 miles north of Camano Island.  Whenever we can head north to do our business, we do, there is so much less traffic.  Anyway the plan today was to get Gracie groomed and a hair trim for me.

We get to take a back road from Stanwood to Mt. Vernon which takes you through farming country.  I had no idea that this area was such a big potato producing area.  The fields are blooming right now and are actually quite pretty.

Potato field in bloom

We dropped Gracie off at Petsmart for her grooming appointment.  It is always so sad to leave her behind at the groomers, but she always looks so pretty when she is finished.  We did a little shopping, I was half heartedly looking for a dress to wear to Jessica's wedding.  I brought one with me that will work, but you never know, I might find one better. 

We decided to try lunch at Five Guys Burgers & Fries, we've seen several in the last several weeks and had never eaten at one.  Well our experience was a good one.  The burgers were very good and the fries were excellent.  They use local products and even had listed on a chalkboard which farm the potato's were from.  They claim to not even have a freezer in their stores because all they use are fresh products.  I wonder if/when one will come to the Bend area. 

After lunch it was time to head to my hair appt.  I have had the same hairdresser in Bend for the last 11 years, so hadn't look for one for a lot of years.  How did I pick one you ask?  Well after I made Gracie's grooming appt. I just Googled for a salon near Petsmart - pretty scientific eh?  I pretty much just wanted my bangs trimmed and maybe a few layers added to my hair since it is getting longer.  I had an OK experience - I sure missed Sonia, my hairdresser.  Sonia had showed me how to trim my bangs, and I had been doing it myself, but just thought I was due for a "professional" job.  Well the hairdresser was pleasant enough, but I wasn't overly impressed by her job.  Even when I came out to the car afterwards, Rich asked me if I was happy with my bangs, that should give you a clue that her job wasn't the best.  Oh well.

Then it was off to pick up Gracie at the groomers and more shopping.  And no, I didn't find another dress, so it looks like it will be the one I brought with me and I'm fine with that.  That was pretty much our day.

Friday

We woke to rain....well I guess we won't be doing any painting today.  Rich spent the morning researching some RV parks for when we leave here.  I spent the morning fighting a Sudoko puzzle, I had one that was giving me fits. 

In the afternoon, it had stopped raining enough that we decided to check out the local farmers market in Stanwood.  When we arrived, another rain cloud arrived, so it was a fast trip through the market.  We came home with some fresh beans, beets, kohlrabi, peaches and a small bouquet of flowers.  We stopped at a local store and picked up some baked chicken to go with some of our fresh veggies and some ice cream to go with the peaches...yummy.

Saturday

Today we were headed to Bellingham to get the oil changed in our dually.  When we bought the truck in Bend we were told that we had free oil changes for as long as we owned the truck as long as it was at a Lithia dealer.  Our appt was at 9:00 a.m. and Bellingham is about an hour north, so with our stop at Starbucks for coffee, it meant leaving here around 7:30 a.m. 

We got our coffee and headed north.  This was the farthest north we've been on our travels together.  We found the Lithia dealer and got the truck checked in and the bad news was that for some reason our paperwork says that we can only get the free oil changes in Bend.  We called the Bend store and they didn't know why it would say that either, but since it is Saturday, they can't do anything until Monday.  So our options were to cancel or to go ahead with the oil change and pay for it ourselves.  We chose to go ahead and hopefully we'll get something figured out on Monday. 

After the oil change, we went exploring in Bellingham.  We drove down to the ferry terminals and saw this big ferry that was headed to Alaska this evening. It was pretty big.

Alaska ferry going to Whitier, Alaska

another view of boats in the bay

There was a nice park down by the ferry terminal with some more nice views of the bay.

Marine Park

We walked around the Fairhaven historic district of Bellingham but didn't really spend much time checking out the shops.  We did come across this amazing house, the paint detail was the most detailed I've ever seen on a house.

On the way home we decided to take the scenic Route 11 instead of the freeway.  It was very pretty, but oh my, it was so very narrow and the road was so curvy.  It said that RV's were not recommended, I'd say that dually pickups are probably not recommended either. 

View along Route 11

We had a very nice day sightseeing.  The kids invited us to go to the local fair tonight, but since we'd been gone all day, we decided to pass.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.